Toy Recall Nightmare: Build-a-Bear Has Evil Eyes

Don't be fooled by the colorful hearts, the batting lashes, the slight head tilt suggesting tenderness. This bear is bad news.

Almost 300,000 of Build-a-Bear's Colorful Hearts dolls have been recalled just days after the holidays.

The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission
issued the recall after the bear's eyes were found to potentially fall
out and present a choking hazard for young children. A spokeswoman for company,
which sold the doll in stores around the US and Canada this year,
issued a statement that the measure is merely precautionary. No injuries
have been reported.

Back in November, Build-A-Bear recalled another product- a Teddy Bear Swimwear Set- after a 3-year-old girl tried
to pull the bear's inner-tube accessory over her head and couldn't get
it off. Another product, the Love Hugs Peace Lapel Pin, was also
recalled in August when paint on the pin was found to contain excessive
levels of lead.

"That we have conducted three product recalls this year despite the fact
that we have not received a single injury report related to any of
those three products clearly demonstrates how seriously we take product
safety," Build-a-Bear spokeswoman Jennifer Saunders told NPR's blog Shots .

Like the company's other products, the seemingly
innocuous Colorful Hearts bear passed an independent safety inspection
before it was released. But since then, "substandard fabric" has been
earmarked as a potential culprit for loosening eyes. (Even in context
that sentence is terrifying.)

So what next? Exchange the doll at your local Build-a-Bear
for a coupon good for any stuffed animal in the store. But first, go
into your daughter's crib and pry the smiling tattooed doll from her
delicate child-hands. Go ahead and explain that the Christmas present she's come to love like a sibling,
has the potential to kill her with its cold, dead eyes. Then shave off
some of that money you've been saving for a family vacation and put it
towards her long-term therapy.